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Friday, October 21, 2016

Schneider
Electric, the global automation specialist and a leader in energy efficiency,
is set to increase its industrial automation footprint in India. Catering to
increased demand across various sectors, the company expects to launch as many
as 365 products and solutions this year, many of them focusing on increasing
the value they provide to their process automation customers. Schneider Electric
emerged as a major player in the global process automation market in 2014
following its acquisition of Invensys Plc. It is now eyeing an even bigger
market presence in India.

Increasing
its portfolio of products, solutions and services here will further enable it
to address growing regional and country-wide demand in four key sectors –
Power, Oil and Gas, Water and Waste Water (WWW) and Mining, Metals and Minerals
(MMM).

Rajat
Kishore, MD and VP, Process Automation, Schneider Electric Systems India Pvt
Ltdsaid, “Acquiring Invensys and its
portfolio of process automation, control and safety systems, as well as a fleet
of measurement and instrumentation offerings, significantly strengthened our
position in the industrial automation market. Today we offer a full portfolio
of connected process automation products, control and safety platforms and a
suite of software, analytics and apps that enable safer, more reliable, more
efficient operations. We have smart products used for measuring, activating,
and device-level monitoring and control; machine and process automation
systems, services and solutions that provide monitoring, control and safety
management; software applications that deliver more functionality to meet the
needs of the specific operation, plant or enterprise; a suite of enterprise
level services and applications that help customers realize true business
value; and cloud offerings and industry-leading cybersecurity across the stack.
No other company can bring that to bear for their customers.”

Schneider
Electric expects to grow its position in the Indian Automation market in the
wake of strong demand due to various Government initiatives such as ‘Make in
India’ and Smart City Mission which have Automation at their very core. Also,
the company feels that Automation would be the key for India to become a global
manufacturing hub as it would need innovation as well as consistency in quality
and efficiency while keeping price competitive to compete globally.

Schneider Innovation at Every Levelharnesses the power and promise of
its Internet of Things-powered Ecostruxure architecture to reshape cities,
transform industries and enrich lives through connected products, edge control,
apps, analytics and services.

Kishore
said, “Automation
will be a high growth area in India. Despite the fact that Manufacturing
contributes about 17% to India's GDP, there is still significant untapped
potential when compared to global benchmarks. The manufacturing industry is
undergoing tremendous change due to Urbanization, Industrialization and
Digitization megatrends.. To add to this, even as energy demands are set to
double in the next 40 years, CO2 emissions will have to be reduced by half to
avoid irreversible damage to our planet. So we have to become three times more
efficient. Automationwill drive this efficiency
improvement”.

Kishore
further noted that as the world becomes more connected, more distributed and
more efficient, with the number of connected devices expected to double in the
next five years, it will spur demand for innovative technologies under the
umbrella of Automation. “As a global, innovative, technology company, we are in
a strong position to provide the integrated Industrial Automation, Software and
energy management that will drive this change”, Kishore said.

Fifty years ago, on October 20, 1966, at a time when interest in cars was
growing rapidly in Japan, Toyota unveiled the first-generation Corolla.

The Toyota Corolla is a five-passenger
vehicle from Japan that is positioned as the “most accessible car” in the
market. In the development of the Corolla, Toyota’s engineers have spent years
bringing together the best of the company’s technologies to offer to the
public. This car has been designed to become a main fixture across Japanese
society. It is fitted with a powerful water-cooled inline-four engine boasting
1,077 cc and 60 horsepower which provides a level of performance, and a vehicle
class that goes above and beyond. The Corolla is packed with new features where
its acceleration exceeds that of European cars within the same vehicle class.
The Corolla is truly a high-performance Japanese compact car.

Toyota Motor
Corporation was founded in 1937 with the overarching goal of helping to develop
the Japanese auto industry. Three decades later, Corolla was born at a time of
great interest in cars across Japan. The 80 Point Doctrine +α Concept
underpinned the development of the Corolla. This design concept stipulates that
the car has to achieve 80 points on a 100-point scale on average, and some +α
(extra) features were necessary to give the vehicle additional appeal, which
would help exceed customers’ expectations. Over the past five decades, even as
the Corolla has evolved over 11 generations, Toyota has consistently applied
this understanding to models sold in Japan and around the world.

Born in Japan in 1966,
the Corolla is now being produced in 13 countries, and over 1.3 million units
are sold annually in more than 150 countries. It takes 9 million cars to cover
the earth's circumference once and hypothetically, if were to stack all the
Corolla cars sold till date globally, then we would be taking 4.7 rounds across
the circumference of the earth.With a record 44 million units sold
globally to date, the Toyota Corolla has established itself as the world’s
best-selling car of all-time.

During the last 50 years,
customers from all around the world have come to share the same love for the
Corolla; and the Corolla development team has consistently worked hard to meet
and exceed their expectations. We would like to take this opportunity to
reflect on the past 50 years of the Corolla, through stories told by those who
have been part of the Corolla journey.

This
special website features various aspects of the Corolla, including customer
memories, the history of the vehicle, comments from those charged with
developing the car and more. Content will be posted in stages, so please visit
the site often!

-History: Evolution of the Corolla since the first
generation and their corresponding eras

-Message: Commentary by Chief Engineers of the Corolla

-Feature: Special content, including an AE86 Levin
test-drive video and a commentary by a "Corolla geek"

-Gallery: Generations of the Corolla and key historical
photos

-Link:
URLs to news releases of the Corolla of each generation, as well as some
Corolla related websites.

Commenting
on this milestone, N Raja, Director and Senior Vice-President, Sales and
Marketing, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Ltd. said,“With its
rich legacy and phenomenal success across the globe, the Toyota Corolla has set
a benchmark & market leadership in India with 42% segment share. Well
appreciated for its design innovation and time-tested quality engineering, the
Corolla Altis has been doing consistently well ever since its launch in India
and has won the hearts of over 1 lakh happy customers in India”.

LeEco, global internet and ecosystem conglomerate has
officially launched its disruptive ecosystem model in the U.S. Through this LeEco
has broken the boundaries between screens to seamlessly deliver content and
services on awide array of
connected smart devices – including smartphones, TVs, smart bikes, virtual
reality and electric self-driving vehicles.

“We have created a new business model that will lead
the next era of technology – the ecosystem era. We are disrupting several
categories and changing the paradigm by breaking down barriers and boundaries between
industries and screen stocreate a better experience and more value for both
individuals and industries,” said YT Jia, Founder, Chairman and CEO of
LeEco. “I know the road ahead is long and arduous but life is about
constantly exploring the unknown, and I believe that if you dare to dream what
99%believe is impossible you’ve earned
the right at that 1% chance to be successful.”

Here’s what LeEco unveiled at the event in
the U.S.-

Premium Devices with Disruptive
Value:To provide an
enhanced value for our users, LeEco hascreatedEcoPass that brings together
various high-value benefits.

Ecophones:The
next-generation of smartphones that put content front-and-center to deliver the
ultimate entertainment experience. With eui, the Le and LIVE apps offer a
line-up of content including a dynamic preview display, and a 3x3 mosaic of
streaming content. With eui, ecophone users can access LeView, a “minus one
screen” experience that puts tailored content, customized to your viewing
preferences, just one swipe away from the home screen. With eui, content
is always only one click away.LeEco will launch two ecophonesin the U.S. that
will begin selling atwww.lemall.com onNov. 2.

Le Pro3 is LeEco’s flagshipecophone that combines beautiful
design, powerful performance and a unique way to consume content. With a
5.5-inch screen and sleek design, the Le Pro3 features fine, brushed metal
backing and a tough Corning Gorilla Glass screen with 2.5D curved edges for a
smooth finish.The Le Pro3
sports premium audio features, including dual speakers, surround sound powered
by Dolby Atmos and Continual Digital Lossless Audio (CDLA) technology.
The Le Pro3 offers incredible, long-lasting performance thanks to apowerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
processor and a category leading 4070mAh battery. The Le Pro3 also features a
16 MP rear-facing camera for vivid photos, panoramas and videos in 4K; and an 8
MP front-facing camera perfect for capturing selfies. The Le Pro3 comes in gold
and gray, and will sell for $399. It also includes a 3-month free EcoPass
membership.

Le S3raises the
stakes with best-in-category audio, processor, and front and back
cameras. Beautifully designed with an elegant, all-metal unibodyand a
5.5-inch screen, the Le S3 doesn’t cut any corners on what matters most.
Featuring a Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor, the Le S3 delivers unrivaled
performance for its category. It also over-delivers on the camera with a
16 MP main and an 8 MP selfie camera, which can be activated with the highly
responsive and intelligent fingerprint scanner. The Le S3 combines the power of
CDLA and Dolby Atmoswith in-box
Type-C CDLA earphones for the ultimate audio experience. The Le S3 is available
in gold, gray and rose gold for $249, and includes a 3-month EcoPass
membership.

EcoTVs: Ranging in screen sizes, LeEco’s TV’s are one of
China’s leading smart TV brands, selling more than 7 million units over the
past three years. The ultimate experience in home cinema, theuMax85boasts a huge 85-inch display housed
in a slim industrial design packed with superior technology features including
industry-leading Full Array, 448 Active Local Dimming Zones, HDR, Dolby
Vision, Fluid Motion 1920 Display Technology and Harmon Kardon Audio. The
uMax85 will be available onNov. 2atwww.lemall.comfor $4,999 and comes with a 12-month free EcoPass
membership.

The artfully designedSuper4 X Serieshouses premium technology in an
ultra-slim frame built from the finest-grade aluminum alloy materials and
features an ultra-narrow bezel. Available in a range of screen sizes including
43, 55 and 65 inches. These ecotvsfeature HDR, Harman Kardon speakers and
3GB RAM and 32GB of storage. The Super4 X Series ecotvs will be available onNov. 2atwww.lemall.com

Professor
Stephen Hawking on Wednesday opened a new artificial intelligence research
centre at Britain's Cambridge University.

The
Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI) will delve into AI
applications ranging from increasingly "smart" smartphones to robot
surgeons and "Terminator" style military droids.

Funded
by a £10 million (11.2 million-euro, $12.3-million) grant from the Leverhulme
Trust, the centre's express aim is to ensure AI is used to benefit humanity.

Opening
the new centre, Hawking said it was not possible to predict what might be
achieved with AI.

"Perhaps
with the tools of this new technological revolution, we will be able to undo
some of the damage done to the natural world by the last one --
industrialisation.

"And
surely we will aim to finally eradicate disease and poverty. Every aspect of
our lives will be transformed.

"In
short, success in creating AI could the biggest event in the history of our
civilisation," Hawking said.

The
centre is a collaboration between the universities of Oxford, Cambridge,
Imperial College London, and Berkeley, California.

It will
bring together researchers from multiple disciplines to work with industry
representatives and policymakers on projects ranging from regulation of
autonomous weapons to the implications of AI for democracy.

"AI
is hugely exciting. Its practical applications can help us to tackle important
social problems, as well as easing many tasks in everyday life," said
Margaret Boden, a professor of cognitive sciences and consultant to the CFI.

The
technology has led to major advances in "the sciences of mind and
life", she said, but, misused, also "presents grave dangers".

"CFI
aims to pre-empt these dangers, by guiding AI-development in human-friendly
ways," she added.

Fears of
robots freeing themselves from their creators have inspired a host of films and
literature -- "2001: a Space Odyssey" to name but one.

"Alongside
the benefits, AI will also bring dangers, like powerful autonomous weapons, or
new ways for the few to oppress the many.

"It
will bring disruption to our economy. And in the future, AI could develop a
will of its own -- a will that is in conflict with ours," he said.

But
catastrophic scenarios aside, the development of AI, which allows robots to
execute almost all human tasks, directly threatens millions of jobs. So will
AI, which has already conquered man in the game of chess, ultimately leave humans
on the sidelines?

"We
don't need to see AI as replacing us, but can see it as enhancing us: we will
be able to make better decisions, on the basis of better evidence and better
insights," said Stephen Cave, director of the centre.

"AI
will help us to learn about ourselves and our environment -- and could, if
managed well, be liberating."

With
this in mind, ethics will be one of the key fields of research of the CFI. "It's
about how to ensure intelligent artificial systems have goals aligned with
human values" and ensure computers don't evolve spontaneously in
"new, unwelcome directions", Cave said.

"Before
we delegate decisions in important areas, we need to be very sure that the
intelligence systems to which we are delegating are sufficiently trustworthy."

The Orion Shopping Festival is back, marking the beginning of
the festive season inspectacular style. What’s more, this time it’s twice as
exciting as both Orion Mall at Brigade Gateway and Orion East Mall celebrate
this mega shopping festival, packed with superlative shopping experiences,
fantastic prizes for shoppers and grand bumper prizes, all amidst festive
gaiety and dazzling décor.

During the much-awaited Orion Shopping Festival, from October 1to November 1, 2016, customers at
Orion Mall, Brigade Gateway, who make purchases of Rs. 4,000 and above can
participate in hourly, daily and weekly draws. At Orion East Mall, customers
making purchases worth Rs.2,500 and above can participate in these draws. The
bumper prize at both malls is a coveted Fiat Abarth Punto cars, while winners
of the weekly prize can ride home on a TVS Apache bikes; at Orion East, there
are also Apple iPhone 7 being given away during the weekly draws. The daily
prizes are delectable Wonder chef hampers. That’s not all — shoppers can win
gift vouchers in the hourly draws as well.

Speaking about the Orion Shopping Festival, Vishal Mirchandani,
CEO- Retail and Commercial, Brigade Enterprises Ltd. says,“This is the fifth edition of
the Orion Shopping Festival at Orion Mall, Brigade Gateway, and we’re also
unveiling it at Orion East Mall. The Shopping Festival gets better with every
year as you can see from the line-up of amazing prizes that we’re offering.
Besides the fantastic shopping, we want to create a wonderful festive
atmosphere for our customers.”

Brigade
Gateway Campus lit up splendidly for the Deepawali seasons. Certainly, the
festive decorations take the Orion Shopping Festival to another level for
shoppers, it introduces a whole new festive shopping experience to customers at
Orion East Mall, a destination that redefines the concept of the neighbourhood
mall. Cutting edge innovation and fine aesthetics combine to create fantastic
festive effect sat both malls – from huge lamps to sparkling elephants, Canopy
lights cover the facades and light spark fountains scattered across the campus
make for a beautiful sight. A gorgeous setting, great shopping and grand prizes
– it’s the perfect way to herald the festive season. So, come join the
celebrations.

Thursday, October 20, 2016

National Instruments NI, a provider of platform-based testing systems that enable engineers and
scientists, has further enhanced its LabView 2016 system design software. NI also held once again its NI Days in Bengaluru.

NI
says it empowers engineers to simplify development and effectively integrate
software from the ecosystem into their systems.

The latest version of LabView
introduces new channel wires to simplify complex communication between parallel
sections of code. Available on both desktop and real-time versions of LabView,
the channel wire method helps improve code readability and reduces development
time.

An official from NI says:
“The new channel wires in LabView 2016 enable us to develop applications even
faster by making architectures that are more transferable across domains.

Latest version of LabView features 500+ new supported instruments, five
new 64-bit add-ons, supports improved Python integration “With channel wires, we can set up sophisticated software
architectural patterns that natively have multiple sources, without having to
create and maintain considerable amounts of custom software in the background.”

Much
of the success that LabView users have had relies on the openness of both the
product itself and the ecosystem that supports it. NI
says LabView 2016 continues this trend with enhanced interoperability with
Python and third-party devices.

This
openness, combined with several new enhancements, “helps users continue to
improve productivity by streamlining code development and deployment”, says NI.

NI Days at
Bengaluru

NI, the provider of systems that enable engineers and scientists
to solve the world’s greatest engineering challenges, today successfully hosted
the 13th edition ofNIDays– an annual conference on graphical system
design – in Bangalore. The event was attended by over 500 engineers,
scientists, and experts from Industry and Academia who discussed the trends,
opportunities and challenges that lie in the future of connected systems.

At the seminar, NI India launched the latest version of its
flagship product,LabVIEW
2016, with enhancements in acquiring, processing and managing data from
remote data acquisition systems. NIDays offered 21 technical sessions and
tutorials along with a wide range of products and application demonstrations.
Speakers and exhibitors from various industries joined the event. The diverse
set of panellists shared their ideas on trends in communication systems,
embedded electronics, security and automated test systems that address the
challenges and opportunities for the next generation of connected systems.

Addressing the media at the event,Jayaram Pillai, Managing Director –
IndRAA, National Instruments, said,“Over
the last 18 years in India, we have built a strong ecosystem of partners,
proficient developers and successful customers and this ecosystem has enabled
ourcustomers
toinnovate.
It’s inspiring to see the amount of innovation and true technological
advancements at this year’s NIDays. The continuous dedication and leadership
I’ve seen from the engineering community is awe-inspiring and I’m excited for
the future of engineering.”

Commenting on the success of the event,Ajit Gokhale, Senior VP Global
Marketing, National Instruments, said, "As the world becomes more and more connected, the immense
amount of data available today provides the engineers and scientists with a
wide variety of insights, but getting the right insight can be a challenge! We
continue to help our customers stay ahead of the curve through our
platform-based approach andcutting-edge
technology advances in application areas such as the Internet of Things (IoT)
or the development of 5G networks by creating tools that help engineers
solve real world challenges, accurately, efficiently and rapidly.”

NI’s tools have proven to be instrumental in the success of a
lot of Indian customers and their applications. This year, NI added various new
products to the list of these toolsaimed at accelerating the productivity of
engineers and researchers working in the areas of IoT, 5G, industrial
automation, etc. Some of these tools enable applications that previously seemed
too ambitious because of their complexities.

The new range of products launched at the event includes:

·High-performance
PXI instrumentationfor
processing and sensing at the edge

·NI
Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) Simulatorwhich helps drive down the cost of test for
customers

·Software-centric
NI PXIDigital
Pattern Instrument used by semiconductor characterization and production test
engineers to drive down the cost of their tests and ensure product quality

To accelerate engineering skills development in India, NI also
hosted its annual Engineering Impact Awards 2016 aimed at recognizing the most
innovative projects based on NI software and hardware and NIYANTRA awards 2016
recognizing the best graphical system design created by budding engineering
students.

ENGINEERING IMPACT AWARDS

NI’s annual technical application contest – Engineering Impact
Awards, enabled NI customers to showcase innovative projects based on NI
software and hardware. The contest this year had a total of 40 teams and the
winners got a chance to participate in the Global Engineering Impact Awards
held in Austin annually during NIWeek.

This year,Captronicswon in the 'Application of the Year'
and 'NI Alliance Partner of the year' categories. They developed an application
to determine the location of a bullet on a target system using NI cRIO.National Aerospace Laboratorieswon in the 'Systems Category' for theirdesign and development of
structural health monitoring system comprising of SyncVIEW, DiagnoseVIEW,
QuickVIEW for aircraft composite structures. Jawaharlal Nehru Technological
University, Hyderabadwon in
the 'Academic Category' for developing a closed loop control of three phase
inverter voltage using NI LabVIEW FPGA and cRIO.

NIYANTRA AWARDS

In order to foster the spirit of innovation in engineering
students and expose them to the essence of experiential education through a
contest, NI hosted its annual student design contest NIYantra 2016. This
contest, held over a period of six months, helped the undergraduate engineers
design their project ideas and convert them into working models using NI
hardware and software.

This year, NIYantra 2016
witnessed submissions from more than 950+ teams, out of which 18 teams made it
to the finals. The results of the competition were announced at NIDays 2016.
Sri Eshwar College of Engineering won the NIYANTRA 2016 awards for creating an
innovative path detector designed for visually challenged. Teams from
Vivekanand Education Society's Institute Of Technology and K.J. Somaiya College
of Engineering were the runners-up. The team from Kumaraguru College of
Technology was also recognized for their efforts.

Honeywell has announced
Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport and Infosys’ SDB 10 and 11
buildings in Pune as India’s smartest buildings at the Network 18 and Honeywell
Smart Building Awards for 2016.

Rao Inderjit Singh,
Minister of State in the Ministry of Urban Development and minister of state in
the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, was Honeywell’s chief
guest at the function and felicitated the winners. Addressing the building
owners, he said, “I deeply value this effort to drive building smartness in our
cities. I encourage all building owners across India to contribute in the 100
Smart Cities initiative by making their buildings smarter.”

Ten other buildings in
New Delhi, Mohali, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Ahmedabad and Kancheepuram were named
the smartest buildings in their market segments, which included hotels,
hospitals, schools, retail, airport, commercial multi-tenant offices,
single-tenant offices, residential facilities and public sector buildings. The
building
applicants were evaluated using the scoring criteria from the Honeywell Smart
Building Score, a first-of-its-kind global tool to measure building smartness.

The IGI airport scored a perfect 100 in the
safe and productive parameters, as well as a 93 in the green parameter. The
Infosys Pune SDB 10 and 11
buildings made
it to the winning platform with a score of 97 in the safe parameter. The assets
at the Infosys buildings also scored high on elements such as cyber security,
data analytics and cloud capability. IGI airport and the Infosys SDB Pune
buildings also captured the awards for Smartest Large (>= 10 MMPA) Airport
Building and Smartest Single Occupant Private Office Buildings in India,
respectively.

“It is encouraging to see the interest and competitive
spirit among the builder community and facility managers. The number of
applications we received strengthens our commitment to make more and more
buildings green, safe, and productive,” said Vikas Chadha, president of
Honeywell India.

““It is our privilege to partner with Honeywell in
creating a property that awards and showcases the best smart building practices
fundamental to Smart Cities that are Safer, Greener and Productive. As a
prominent and responsible media group, we remain committed to educating consumers
and empowering investors. Our association with this initiative is another step
in the direction of growing awareness around Smarter Buildings making Smarter
Cities,” said Shereen Bhan,
managing editor, CNBC-TV18.

The scores were validated by KPMG and affirmed by an eminent
jury composed of India’s leading authorities on energy efficiency, safety,
security, and productivity in buildings. Jury members included:

The Honeywell Smart Building Score can help buildings
with low scores by pinpointing the solutions that will drive optimal return on
investment, making them greener, safer, and more productive for their
occupants.

It is well established that green buildings enjoy an
edge in terms of incentives. They are cost-effective, and developers enjoy
government subsidies while consumers pay less for electricity and water.
Buildings scoring low on green can choose the most relevant options for their
needs from among a range of solutions available in the market to help become
energy efficient, environment friendly, and cost-effective.

On the safety front, it is a myth that installing
precautionary fire alarm systems for life-threatening instances is expensive.
It is, in fact, less expensive than installing air conditioning. Buildings that
score low on safety have a plethora of security solutions available today, to
address the unique security requirements of all buildings, be it a small ATM
cabin or a sprawling commercial or industrial facility.

The Honeywell Smart Building Score can similarly point
out specific productivity gaps. As important as uninterrupted connectivity is
to the productivity of the building occupants, so is indoor air and water
quality. Knowing what technology asset group has scored low can provide clear
insight to facility managers to improve building and people productivity.

Honeywell launched the Honeywell Smart Building Score
in India in June 2015, and the
tool was subsequently launched in the United States, China and the Middle East.
Among the tool’s measures:

·The Green asset group
measures the environmentally sustainable components of a building. It includes
a building’s use of energy sources, utility sources, temperature control,
energy control, and utility control, all of which impact carbon emissions, a facility’s
environmental footprint, and utility costs for the building occupant or user.

·The Safe asset group
measures the safeguards for the building, its occupants, users and owners. It
includes people, vehicle and material security, fire safety, gas safety, worker
safety, and disaster response systems

·The Productive asset
group measures enhanced comfort and productivity for users and owners. It
includes technologies that help boost productivity include indoor air and water
quality sensors, people, vehicle and material circulation, personalization,
connectivity, and energy quality.

Honeywell is
positioned with the broadest technology solutions portfolio that serve
buildings to support India’s 100 Smart Cities vision, and is already working on
several significant projects, including Bhubaneshwar in Odisha, Aurangabad in
Maharashtra, Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, and an 11-city project in a large
central state.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor announced a
partnership with Uber, the ride-hailing app to offer end-to-end vehicle buying
solutions for driver partners operating on the Uber platform. Through this
partnership Toyota’s Financial arm, Toyota Financial Services India Ltd.
(TFSIN) will provide 90% on-road funding on Etios and Livamodels
for first time drivers, further reinforcing its association with Uber ensuring
best-in-class products are easily affordable to first time buyers. The
90% on-road funding scheme encompasses a complete package of vehicle cost,
accessories, service packages, registration road tax and insurance. The scheme
will be applicable till the end of this year till December 2016. With
this initiative the world class product of Toyota will easily be affordable for
the Uber Driver Partners which will further add to the growth of the mobility
business.

The unique scheme, which has been
rolled out across all dealerships across the country, will provide
best-in-class service standards with priority processing for Uber drivers. Etios has
been very successful in the people mover segment where vehicles are preferred
only for their quality, durability and reliability, a testimony to its build
quality and strength. The excellent overall ownership cost value proposition
compared to other vehicles makes it most economical and well appreciated by
customers.

The Indian ride-hailing market is
burgeoning with growth in smartphone and internet users using ride-sharing
services for daily commute. As per reports, India’s ride-sharing market is
expected to be around $7 billion by 2020.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor has
collaborated with Uber offering major support to first time drivers on the Uber
Platform through this scheme. This initiative will further boost this market in
India with the best on road funding scheme which will ensure that customers can
easily buy Toyota products which have set a safety benchmark in the industry.

Speaking on the tie-up, N.
Raja, Director & Senior Vice President (Sales and Marketing), Toyota
Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Ltd said, “Toyota Kirloskar Motor is pleased to
announce this tie up with Uber, we believe the 90% on road funding scheme will
lead to a positive growth in the ride-sharing market. This initiative is
another step closer to changing the dynamics of mobility needs of an average
Indian and we are glad to be part of it. Fleet operators across India today
have understood the value proposition of Etios. Etios and Liva have set a
safety benchmark in the industry standardizing dual airbags and Anti-Lock
Braking System (ABS) with Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD) across all
grades.”

Tomohei Matsushita, MD and CEO,
Toyota Financial Services India Ltd. “TFSIN is committed to support
Toyota customers in India. Uber being an important partner, we are delighted to
support the tie-up and are willing to deliver best-in-class products and
services to Uber.”

Speaking on this partnership, Uber
India President, Amit Jain said, “ Toyota vehicles are among the most
popular cars on the Uber platform worldwide. We are proud to partner with
Toyota India to boost grassroots entrepreneurship.”